Achievements

Top Research Scientist Malaysia (TRSM)

Dr. Choong is the Recipient of Top Research Scientist Malaysia from the Academy of Science Malaysia, 2022.

Royal Institution of Surveyor Malaysia (RISM) Excellence Award

Dr. Choong Weng Wai received the Royal Institution of Surveyor Malaysia (RISM) Excellence Award for Contribution Towards Sustainability

Active Speakers and Panels

Choong has been invited as speaker and panel at global and local level, providing his expertise on environmental behaviour topic and sharing his thought with academics, community, and students across the world.

Some Highlights:

  • Choong Weng Wai (2021), invitation as Guest Lecture to present the topic: Towards a Circular Economy: Readiness and roles of Pro Environmental Behaviour among Consumers at Xi’an Jiaotong University, China, 4th November 2021.
  • Choong Weng Wai (2020), invitation as speaker for the panel discussion session on Science for Climate Change Series: Philosophy, Behavioural Science, Leadership and Climate Change by British High Commission Kuala Lumpur, 25th November 2020.
  • Choong Weng Wai (2021), invitation as guest speaker for the Joint-Research and Training Program on Environmentally Green Technology and Sustainable Energy: Circular Economy by National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan presenting a topic, entitled: Towards a Circular Economy: Readiness and roles of Pro Environmental Behaviour among Consumers, 26th January 2021.
  • Choong Weng Wai (2020), invitation as Speaker for the panel discussion session on Sustainable Environment: SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities: Making Cities and Human Settlements Inclusive, Safe, Resilient and Sustainable, the 5th Annual International SIMPI Virtual Conference, Far Eastern University, Manila Philippines, 29th October 2020.
  • Choong Weng Wai (2018). invitation as the Speaker for the panel discussion session on Sustainable Urban Planning, at Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States. 10th April 2018.
  • Choong Weng Wai (2018). Invited as the Keynote Speaker by Department of Environment, Malaysia to present topic entitled Nudge: Essential and Potential Application in Environmental Program at RHR Hotel Uniten, Kajang, from 29th-30th, April, 2019.

Postgraduate Supervision

Choong with his graduated PhD students, he has graduated Seven (7) PhD students and Four (4) Master Students as main supervisor, and more is expected to graduate, now many of them have joined Public and Private university to continue their achievement in academic field.

Project Leader for the Development of Guidance Document for Nudge Concept for Department of Environment (DOE) Malaysia

Choong has been appointed as the Nudge Team Committee Member for the Department of Environment (DOE), Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change (MESTECC) since 2019 to strengthen sustainable environmental management, also, he has been appointed as the project leader to develop the Guidance Document for Integrating Nudge Concept in Environmental Programme.  The guidance aims to assist Department of Environment (DOE) officers in developing environmental programmes whilst incorporating the concept of nudge in its implementation and strengthening environmental sustainability management to foster environmentally friendly practices among Malaysians while maintaining their freedom of choice.

Project Leader for the Development of Guidance Document for Conducing Effective Environmental Programme

Dr. Choong is the project leader for the development of Guidance Document for Conducing Effective Environmental Programme for the Department of Environment (DOE) Malaysia, and the guidance has been adopted for the training and reference among nationwide environmental officers.

Registered Electrical Energy Manager (REEM) and Energy Manager for the Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying

Choong is a Registered Electrical Energy Manager endorsed by Energy Commission Malaysia and a Professional Member of Malaysian Energy Professionals Association, he has been appointed as energy manager and Sustainable Taskforce for the Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying (FABU) from 2018 to 2020, he plays a significant role to assisting the faculty to win the Green Leaf Award by UTM Campus Sustainability (UTMCS) twice, in year 2018, and again in year 2020.

Community Engagement and Participation

Choong convey his knowledge on behavioural study to real impacts by conducting various action research and bringing real impacts to the society, among many, the Global Challenges Research Fund Project that Choong as co-investigator working on, is helping the community along Johor River convey their suggestions to the government agencies and NGOs, and together with all stakeholders to co-create the solution to resolve issues regarding pollution and degradation of water quality in Johor River. Other than that, Choong also working on Migrant Labour settlement, notably to helping the migrant labor and community to build a more sustainable living environment and building trust in between both parties. It is a topic that has been selected and presented for the MIT-UTM Sustainable Cities Programme.

Engagement and Visit of Special Taskforce from Prime Minister’s Department in UTM for Environmental Awareness and Environmental Behaviour Study

A visit by Special Taskforce from Prime Minister’s Department (JPM) to meet with Choong and the team for nationwide environmental awareness and environmental behaviour index study that have been conducted by UTM in 2012, 2014 and 2016. The findings of the study will be considered by the JPM to be used and set as national baseline.

Appointed as the Accreditation and Certification Committee for the BOVAEP

Sr Dr. Choong Weng Wai has been appointed as the Accreditation and Certification Committee (ACC) for The Board of Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents and Property Managers Malaysia （BOVAEP）

Appointed as the Team Leader by the UNDP for Development of Environmental Performance Index for Viet Nam

Dr. Choong has been appointed as team leader by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for the development of Environmental Performance Index for Vietnam, in the year 2015 and 2016.

Invited Guest Presenter during the R and D Congress on Sustainable Urbanization in the Course of ASEAN Economic Integration, Philippines

Special Invitation as the Guest Presenter to present topic entitled: Sustainable Urbanization and Communities: An Insight from Malaysia Environmental Nationwide Survey from 2012-2016 during the R and D Congress on Sustainable Urbanization in the Course of ASEAN Economic Integration, in Manila, Philippines, from 26th -30th June, 2017.

Appointed as the Project Leader to lead the Study to Strengthen the DOE’s Environmental Campaign and Programme

Dr. Choong has been appointed by the Department of Environment as the team leader to evaluate and strengthen the campaign and programme conducted by DOE.  A systematic guide has been developed to train the stakeholders in nationwide, including government agencies, NGOs, schools and representatives from industry to conduct effective environmental program.

Regional Program Director for the 2nd Sustainable Initiatives: Case Studies in Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia (SIMPI) Conference

Sustainable Initiatives: Case Studies in Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia (SIMPI) Conference, Malaysia Representatives at Far Eastern University, Manila, Philippines

Extended from the first SIMPI conference, the 2nd SIMPI conference has been hosted by Far Eastern Univesity (FEU), jointly organized with UTM and UBH in Manila, Philippines from 5th to 6th, May, 2016. The conference covered several major theme in related to sustainability, including Sustainable Environment, Building Environment, Facilities Management, Sustainable Education, Economic, Cultural and Social Perspectives in Sustainable. It is expected that the way forward for this conference is to extend the participations to Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and other South East Asia Country. The details of this conference can be referred in the following web link: http://www.feu.edu.ph/simpi2016/

Community Engagement Programme: Improving Waste Separation Behaviour among Household in Kulai through Gamification Method

The issue of accumulation of solid waste in Malaysia is due to several causes, such as urbanization, increasing population and among the major cause is due to lacking of solid waste separation behaviour among the residents. The participation rate in waste separation is low and there is an urgency to foster waste separation behaviour among Malaysian household. This community engagement program, part of the IISJ program initiated by UTM and headed by Dr. Choong using the gamification method to improve the waste separation behaviour among the targeted household in Kulai, the results or the output serve as good reference case and model for many other municipal and local authority to follow in encouraging the household to improve their waste separation practice.

Program Director for the 1st Sustainable Initiatives: Case Studies in Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia (SIMPI) Conference

Sustainable Initiatives: Case Studies in Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia (SIMPI) Conference Group Photo at T06, Faculty of Geoinformation and Real Estate

Tokens of Appreciation from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia to VIPs from Indonesia and Philippines, from the left (1) Prof. Dr. Abdul Hakim Mohammed, Chairman of SIMPI Conference, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia; (2) Ir. Wardi. M. Si., IPU, SIMPI Programme Director for Indonesia, Universitas Bung Hartta; (3) Dr. Jennifer S. Florida, SIMPI Program Director for Philippines, Far Eastern University; and (4) Dr. Choong Weng Wai, SIMPI Program Director for Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

The first Sustainable Initiatives: Case Studies in Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia (SIMPI) Conference has been successfully held in Faculty of Geoinformation and Real Estate, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia with the collaboration from Far Eastern University (Philippines) and Universitas Bung Hartta (Indonesia) on May 2015.

The SIMPI conference serve several objectives, among many, to improve better networking among the UTM academic staff with Far Eastern University (Philippines) and Universitas Bung Hartta (Indonesia), notably in research collaboration and publishing in the area of Sustainability.

The conference also serves as a platform to train local and foreign postgraduate students to present and participate in international conference. The conference had attracted academician and students from both Philippines and Indonesia. There is a total of 72 participants, with 17 participants from Philippines and 16 participants from Indonesia.

UTM EPI Team Shared Experience on Environmental Performance Index (EPI) with Viet Nam

In recent years, Vietnam has achieved rapid economic growth with the open door policies and now, has been integrated into the global economy. Concerning arisen of environmental problems as the results of rapid economic growth, Vietnam is undertaking a sub-national or provincial level of Environmental Performance Index (EPI) to determine the priority areas of concerns.

Vietnam has a similar intention to produce provincial level EPI as Malaysia did to establish country level EPI in year 2012 and 2014. The Malaysia EPI, developed by UTM in collaboration with the Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment Malaysia (NRE), provides a comprehensive environmental performance profiling system for the Sixteen States in Malaysia, including Federal Territories.

The Vietnam EPI Consultation Team and Yale University EPI Team have extended invitation to UTM to share our experience in developing the country level EPI during the Second Vietnam EPI Workshop on 16 & 17 March, 2015 in Hanoi. UTM EPI team representative, Dr. Choong Weng Wai attended the workshop and presented the Malaysia EPI experience, highlighting the Malaysia EPI Framework, methodology, results as well as challenges and successful factors. Below are images taken during the Vietnam EPI Workshop.

 

School Engagement Program: Bye-bye Aedes

The anti-dengue Campaign namely “Bye-bye Aedes” has been organized at National School of Taman Universiti One and National School of Taman Universiti Two, both schools are near to Taman Universiti and Taman Pulai Utama, both hotspots area of dengue. The campaign correlates to Government of Malaysia efforts to eradicate the dengue disease.  The purpose of this campaign is to raise awareness among primary school children about the importance of preventing dengue fever and the danger of Aedes mosquito; and to foster dengue prevention behaviour among them for a safer neighbourhood free of Aedes mosquito.

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